Combines are large self-propelled vehicles used for harvesting and threshing agricultural crop in a field. A combine operates by cutting or gathering crop standing in a field, and feeding the cut crop to a separator by means of a conveyor mechanism. In the separator, grain is threshed, or beaten from the husk, stems, pods, or cobs, and then the threshed grain is separated from crop material other than grain. The cleaned grain is moved to a grain tank, and the crop material other than grain is generally distributed back out on the field behind the combine, or collected for use as animal feed or bedding.
The conveyor mechanism typically moves crop material from the header where it is cut from the field, upwardly and rearwardly along a floor of a feeder house to the separator mechanism. Typically, the conveyors have a plurality of continuous chains that are arranged to revolve around a transverse drum at the front of the feeder house and transverse sprocket means at the rear of the feeder house, the chains rotating generally in the direction of the length of the combine. The chains are connected to each other by a plurality of transverse slats, which engage the crop and move it upwardly and rearwardly along the floor of the feeder house. Typically, the slats have an L-shape, and are riveted to the chains at each end of the slat. The transverse slats perform the function of taking the crop material from the header and pulling it up and under the chain towards the separator, along the feeder house bottom floor. If the crop material is not fed to the separator mechanism in a timely and smooth manner, the crop material will back up and can spill out onto the ground, resulting in crop loss, and necessitating operating the combine at a slower speed to prevent additional crop loss. A heavy crop volume can also cause twisting or bending of the slats, which will result in inefficient operation and lead to increased wear, warpage and breakage of slats and/or chains. Additionally, excessive pressure on the slats and chains that occurs when there is a heavy crop load can cause increased friction and heat up the chains, resulting in loss of lubrication, leading to premature chain failure or the need to lubricate the chains more frequently. Therefore, what is needed is a slat that can maintain crop delivery speed to the separator in keeping with harvesting rates while not placing an excessive burden on the feeder chain or slats that would cause excessive or premature wear or failure.